Name: Cold Stuffed Tomato Salad
Ingredients: 12 solid tomatoes; ½ pint finely chopped chicken; ¼ pound blanched almonds, cut into pieces; ½ can mushrooms, cut fine; French dressing

Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Cold Stuffed Tomato Salad

Ingredients

12 solid tomatoes
½ pint finely chopped chicken
¼ pound blanched almonds, cut into pieces
½ can mushrooms, cut fine
French dressing

Directions

Prepare

Peel and remove the insides of the tomatoes.

Make the filling

In a bowl, mix the chopped chicken, almonds, and mushrooms.
Season the mixture to taste.

Fill and serve

Fill the tomatoes with the mixture.
Serve with French dressing.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,719 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Tomato + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,031 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Tomato + almondtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together391 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Almond + mushroomtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together235 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Form the hollow shell that holds the filling and provides moisture in each bite.
Chicken: Supplies the main protein and bulk of the filling.
Blanched almonds: Add a crunchy texture that contrasts with the soft filling.
Mushrooms: Add a soft, savoury earthiness to the filling.